


Keith Genuary Day 23: Papa Kogane

by sunshinehime



Series: Keith's Gen-Uary Event 2019 [13]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Cake, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Gen, Kid Keith (Voltron), Papa Kogane - Freeform, Pre-Canon, i love these two, keith's father - Freeform, so pure so good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 05:46:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17523008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinehime/pseuds/sunshinehime
Summary: Every year for Keith’s birthday, his dad would bake him a rainbow cake. This is the second year of that tradition.





	Keith Genuary Day 23: Papa Kogane

**Author's Note:**

> I love Papa Kogane and I love tiny Keith. So here is some cute fluff with them both!

Henry Kogane is pretending to sleep, eyes tightly shut and body held as still as possible. The pitter-patter of tiny feet approaches his bedroom and he soon hears the creak of the door open. Muffled giggles fill the room and Henry can’t help but break out in a wide smile, one that’s covered by the pillow his head is buried in.

One loud “Hah!” later and his now four year-old son makes his move, pouncing right on his back. Henry barely feels the impact from the tiny body but he sells it with an over exaggerated “oof” and dialogue cheesier than in one of those children’s hero cartoons.

“No, you defeated me! Too...strong…” Keith’s giggles are much louder now and cries out “Yay, I did it, I beat the monster!” Henry quickly turns around, lifting Keith up and tickling his sides. “Final surprise attack: Super Tickle Buster!” Keith squeals in delight and Henry relents after a minute. They catch their breath before he picks Keith up and makes his way out the bedroom and into the kitchen.

“So I heard someone’s birthday is today. Can you tell me whose it is?” He sits Keith down on a chair at the kitchen table as he asks and Keith throws his arms in the air in excitement.

“It’s  _my_  birthday!”

“Oh? And how old are you now birthday boy?”

“I’m...um…” He counts carefully on his fingers, then holds them up for his father to see. “I’m four now.” Henry ruffles his hair. “Good job, you’re real good at counting.” Keith laughs as he tries to fix his hair. “So what does the birthday boy want for breakfast?”

“Pancakes, with chocolate chips.”

“I think I can do that for you kiddo.” He smiles and gathers the the ingredients to makes the best pancakes he can, as Keith darts back to his room to get his favorite stuffed hippo.

* * *

After the two finish breakfast and watch a few hours of Saturday morning cartoons together, Henry brings Keith back to the kitchen, his toy hippo safely tucked in his bed to keep him from getting dirty. “So today we’re gonna make a very special birthday cake. You remember what kind?”

He waits patiently as Keith scrunches up his face while thinking. “It’s...um, um. It’s a...oh, I know! A rainbow cake!”

“ _Nice_. And why a rainbow?”

“Cause it’s my favorite color!” Keith looks pleased, a huge smile on his face. Henry wonders, not for the first time, how could he have gotten so lucky to have such a wonderful and happy kid. And while he may not have the answer, he vows to at least make sure Keith can stay happy as much and as long as possible.

“Yep. And you know what else?” Keith shakes his head. “You get to help me make it this year.” Henry might as well have told him he’d lasso the moon and bring it down as a gift. He chuckles at the adoring expression on his son’s face and fetches everything they need, setting up the kitchen table for their baking session.

* * *

“Alright, so we have the six bowls ready. Now we can mix in all the colors together.” Keith, standing on a step stool so he see can over the top of the table, is practically vibrating with excitement, eyes wide and shining. “Can I do it daddy?”

“Sure but lemme help you, yeah?” He wraps his large hands around Keith’s tiny ones and helps him squeeze out a few drops of food coloring in the first bowl, then helps him mix it to make the batter a bright red.

“Wow, so pretty….” Henry notices that his son is the most animated when he sees anything red, even though he genuinely loves every color. Red really does suit him the most; it’s a fiery color, full of life and energy and passion, just like him.

“Now let’s make this batter orange. First, we’ll put in the yellow coloring. Good job! And now we put in a few drops of--. Wait, what color again? I forgot.” Henry scratches his head in mock confusion and Keith giggles in response. “It’s red, red and yellow make orange silly.” Henry laughs and ruffles Keith’s hair, getting a little flour in it. “Yep, I’m really silly. Let’s drop some red in here, then we mix it and get--”

“Orange!”

The two finish and get everything baking, then clean up the mess they made (mainly on Keith’s end, as his motor skills are still a work-in-progress). “You wanna start the frosting while we wait for the cakes to bake?” Keith nods and runs to the step stool as Henry goes back to the fridge for the cream cheese and butter, the sugar and vanilla still on the table.

Henry shows Keith how to use the hand mixer and let’s Keith be the taste tester for the frosting. It receives a “lick the spoon clean and then try to sneak more” mark from Keith, a perfect score in Henry’s book.

They soon put the finished frosting aside and sit at the table again across from each other, waiting for the oven timer to go off for the cakes.

“Hey daddy?”

“Hm?”

“Can, can we bake a rainbow cake every year?”

Henry smiles. “Sure thing, champ.”

“And, and...um,” Keith kicks his legs as he fidgets, bashful now. “Can we make a rainbow cake for your birthday too? I wanna make it for you so you can be happy ‘cause it makes me happy when you give me a rainbow cake.”

There’s a lump in Henry’s throat and he stands up to crouch down in front of Keith, wrapping his arms around his son in a smothering bear hug that Keith eagerly returns. “Of course Keith. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. I love you daddy.” His voice is muffled, face buried in his chest. But Henry hears it and his heart swells.

“I love you too Keith.”

**Author's Note:**

> Writing parent-child interactions is so great, it's the most adorable thing ever. And I did say I would write another story featuring baking (the previous one was my Hunk drabble). On another note, my bff and beta reader hates the name Henry for Papa Kogane because it's too plain. She wanted either "Texas" or "Bo" lmao


End file.
